Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia Beach are among America’s most secure cities when gun violence, frequency of natural disasters and financial risks are all taken into account, according to a new study from personal finance site WalletHub.
The personal finance site analyzed more than 180 American cities for 41 indicators of safety including the following:
- Assaults;
- Thefts per capita;
- Police per capita;
- Earthquake, wildfire and weather risks;
- Financial factors including unemployment rate and median credit score.
Columbia ranked first overall among all cities analyzed, with WalletHub placing it third in the country for home and community safety. Only Yonkers, New York, and Plano, Texas, scored better in that category.
The Howard County city received a far lower score in natural disaster safety, coming in at 63rd out of 182, and 77th when it comes to financial security.
Also making it into the top 10 overall is Virginia Beach, listed at 11th place nationwide for community safety, 44th place for lowest natural disaster risk and 22nd place for financial safety.
The two largest cities in the D.C. area — the District and Baltimore — received low scores overall, with Baltimore at 158th place and D.C. coming in at 167th.
D.C. ranked within the bottom 10 for the community safety category, placed at 176 out of 182. That’s lower than Baltimore at 160th place but still above Philadelphia, Detroit and Baton Rouge.
See an interactive map of WalletHub’s results below, and a full list on its website.
